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XenForo

Compelling Community Platform

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XenForo is community forum software for running discussion spaces where members interact with each other and with a brand. It supports crowd-sourced support, knowledge sharing, and recovery of user-generated content, with the operator retaining control of their data. It can be deployed self-hosted or through XenForo Cloud.

Core capabilities include a permission system for controlling access to areas and features, configurable reactions beyond likes, notifications with device push, a "What's new" section and news feed, and branding customization through the control panel or direct HTML and CSS edits. It is built to be extended via a REST API, the XenForo framework, and community add-ons. Add-on products include Media Gallery for uploading and organizing media including video, Resource Manager for downloads, tutorials and guides, and Enhanced Search for faster search across large post volumes.

XenForo is aimed at community operators and developers building or extending forums. It is available as self-hosted software or as a cloud-hosted service, with a free demo available. Add-on products are purchased separately.

12 alternatives to XenForo

Ranked by how well each tool replaces XenForo: shared features, audience, price and popularity.

  1. Flarum

    The extensible community framework

    Covers 7 of 15 key features, has a free plan and is open source.

    Free planOpen source
    67 out of 100 matchContact sales

  2. WoltLab Suite

    Premium forum and community software for brands, businesses and communities, developed and

    Covers 5 of 15 key features.

    65 out of 100 match$35.95/mo

  3. Oxwall

    Flexible Social Community Software

    Covers 6 of 15 key features and is open source.

    Open source
    64 out of 100 match—

  4. MyBB

    Free and open source forum software for building online communities.

    Covers 2 of 15 key features, has a free plan and is open source.

    Free planOpen source
    64 out of 100 matchFree

  5. NodeBB

    Modern forum software for community discussion

    Covers 3 of 15 key features, has a free plan and is open source.

    Free planOpen source
    64 out of 100 match$20/mo

  6. Website Toolbox

    The easiest way to add a forum to your website.

    Covers 7 of 15 key features.

    63 out of 100 match$39/mo

  7. Forumbee

    Empower your customers, scale your support.

    Covers 1 of 15 key features.

    62 out of 100 match$250/mo

  8. phpFox

    Build your own social community to connect, engage, grow, and monetize.

    Covers 1 of 15 key features.

    60 out of 100 match$39/mo

  9. Coral

    Coral — A better commenting experience

    Covers 6 of 15 key features and is open source.

    Open source
    60 out of 100 matchContact sales

  10. IntenseDebate

    A comment system for blogs and websites that adds threading, profiles and moderation to a

    Covers 3 of 15 key features and has a free plan.

    Free plan
    60 out of 100 matchFree

  11. Community Box

    Create Beautiful Directories

    Covers 2 of 15 key features and has a free plan.

    Free plan
    59 out of 100 match$19/mo

  12. Loomio

    Decision-making software for groups and organizations.

    Covers 4 of 15 key features and is open source.

    Open source
    59 out of 100 match$39/mo